A homeowner in Pinellas County, Florida, was looking out over her yard when she spotted three tiny faces under a palm tree. The fuzzy babies were actually eastern screech owls, and the woman realized they must have fallen from their nest. The babies needed help getting home, so the woman called Seaside Seabird Sanctuary to get a plan underway.
“They called our rescue dispatch to report the babies, and they had also spotted an adult screech owl in the area, so we knew that the chances of being able to renest the chicks were good,” Melissa Edwards of Seaside Seabird Sanctuary told The Dodo.
Seaside Seabird Sanctuary
Before the babies could be returned to their nest, their rescuers took them to the sanctuary hospital for a thorough exam. Luckily, they were all healthy and alert, and only mildly annoyed at their predicament.
The next step was to locate the nest the babies came from. This can be a bit tricky, as eastern screech owls build their nests inside tree cavities, so they can be hard to spot. The rescuer played screech owl noises, and the parents responded pretty quickly. She then scanned the palm tree — and noticed a fourth baby sticking his head out, looking for his fallen siblings.
Seaside Seabird Sanctuary
The family was more than ready to welcome the three babies home, and their rescuers were happy to oblige.
“After locating the cavity, our volunteer was able to set up her ladder and place the chicks back into the nest cavity relatively quickly,” Edwards said. “During renests, we will assess the nest, and sometimes ‘nestorations’ are needed to prevent the chicks from falling out again. Thankfully, this nest was in good condition, and one of the parents was inside waiting for their chicks.”
Seaside Seabird Sanctuary
The three babies went from being tiny faces on the ground to safe and sound in their nest, all thanks to the help and quick thinking of everyone involved.
